On 30 May 1921, a black man was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S., for allegedly attempting to rape a white woman in an elevator in a downtown building. Many days later, the woman recanted her original story; however, by this time events had spun out of control. When the arrest was revealed to the public in a May 31 newspaper article, an armed mob convened outside the jail intent on lynching the suspect. A lynching was prevented by the arrival of armed black World War I veterans. The rage of the mob was redirected, resulting in a night of violence....